Author's Note: Because there should be much, much more Skyelance/Skyehunter in the world than there has been so far. I am intrigued by this pair and their possibilities.

She had exhausted every lead she could think of, she had read everything she could find. Skye still hadn't come up with anything new about the mysterious painting with the alien writing on the back. Why on earth was Coulson so interested in it?

Coulson. Coulson... Skye's thoughts went wandering off. Speaking of things she didn't understand, why had Coulson become so distant? What was he hiding from her? Was it just Simmons' assignment? No, it couldn't be - because things hadn't become any easier between them in the wake of Skye finding out.

Simmons. What was she up to, at this moment? Skye was, in all honesty, terrified for her. It did help somehow to know that she hadn't abandoned them. Skye had been a bit ripped up by the betrayal of her only close female friend. That was a whole other can of emotional worms.

Skye heaved a sigh and buried her face in her hands. Simmons. Fitz. Coulson. Ward. SHIELD. Hydra.

It was all just too much sometimes.

Lance Hunter was wandering through the halls, on his way to bed after a couple hours of drinking beer and bonding with Fitz and Mack. He really hadn't had a chance to interact much with the young Scot before, and once you got past the awkward pauses in his sentences, the kid actually had quite a bit to say. Sad to hear about what had happened with his old partner, the one who was now undercover in Hydra. Hunter wondered whether Fitz knew about that.

Hunter passed an open door and noticed Skye inside the room, her back to him, laptop on the table beside her and her head in her hands. Something about the scene struck him as off.

"Skye? Everything ok?" he asked, entering the room.

She lifted her head. "Oh. Yeah," she said, waving her hand wearily at the laptop screen. "Just out of ideas and out of brain power." She definitely wasn't going to tell him everything that was on her mind.

Hunter folded himself into the chair across from her, noticing and ignoring her withering glance. Something she had said that day was coming back to him. "I hadn't realized the the 'asset'" - he used air quotes - "down in the vault, that you and he had been a thing."

Skye laughed bitterly. "Yeah. Well, almost a thing. Thankfully, it didn't quite get there."

Hunter's eyes were sincere. "I'm sorry to hear that. That's tough, you know? When your heart's involved."

Skye nodded absently. So Hunter was in a serious mood. She didn't detest this Lance Hunter - the one she had glimpsed in their conversation about Izzy Hartley - as much as she did the irritating man with his affected swagger.

"Yeah, it pretty much sucked." She really didn't want to think about Ward. But she couldn't escape it lately, not with having to go down to interrogate him so often recently. To see Ward look at her with those desperate eyes, as if she were a cup of water in the desert. She always wanted to take a shower afterward.

Hunter was talking again.

"You may think of me as a lazy good-for-nothing - and I may have done something to foster that impression," he added with a grin - "but I'm not terrible at listening. At least, that's what -"

"Your ex used to say," she finished.

Hunter chuckled. "Exactly."

Skye arched an eyebrow. "Was that before or after you discovered that she was a demonic hell-beast?" She smiled wryly.

"Before," he replied affably. "When she still had something good to say about me."

Skye rolled her eyes and let it drop. The last thing she wanted was to end up in another conversation about Hunter's ex-wife.

But Hunter didn't seem interested in pursuing the subject further. He was studying Skye intently, elbows on the table, chin on his fists. "Seriously," he offered. "It's not healthy to keep that all locked up inside. If you want to talk, I'll listen."

Skye blinked incredulously. The Dr. Phil act was unexpected, and she didn't quite know what to make of it. She did know that she wasn't in a place where she could trust anyone with those emotions right now. Especially not a guy she felt attracted to. Between Miles and Ward, it had become clear to her that her judgment when it came to men was seriously flawed.

Wait, had she just mentally referred to Lance Hunter as "a guy she felt attracted to"?

Crap.

"Well?" he prodded her, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah. No, I'm good, thanks," Skye answered abruptly. She shut her laptop with a decisive *click* and stood up. "I think I'm gonna go to bed."

Lance shrugged and watched as she headed toward the door. "Suit yourself. Just remember that if you want to talk, you know where to find me." He grinned cockily as she left the room.

Not likely.

Author's Note: Writing Skye and Lance Hunter is a challenge for me, but I so want to READ fanfic about them that I figured I'd better write some. ;) Feedback is appreciated! I have three chapters written and will post hopefully over the next few days; I'll keep going if there is interest.